Karen Horney’s Psychoanalytic Theory
Although she never studied with Freud, Karen Horney is also considered a neo-Freudian.
She brought a feminist perspective to psychoanalytic theory and sharply attacked the male
bias she saw in Freud’s work. Her counterpart to Freud’s penis envy in females was the
male’s womb envy or desire to procreate. She thought that males and females both are envious
of attributes of the other sex, but that women were more envious of men’s societal status than
their penises. Horney proposed that youngsters feel helpless and threatened, and learn to
cope by showing affection or hostility toward others, or by withdrawing from relationships.
Adults who use all three strategies are healthy, whereas according to her theory, using only
one strategy leads to mental illness.Humanistic Theory
Unlike the deterministic psychoanalytic theories, Abraham Maslow’s and Carl Rogers’
more optimistic humanistic theories of personality stress the importance of our free will in
determining who we want to be.Abraham Maslow’s Holistic Dynamic Theory
Trained as a behaviorist in the 1920s, Maslow thought that behaviorism could not account
for his observations of developing children. He asserted that we are born good and move
towards self-actualization as our goal. Self-actualizationis reaching towards the best person
we can be. (See Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Chapter 12.) Humanists think that
society sometimes causes us to choose goals that lead us away from self-actualization. Self-
actualizers who have met their deficiency needs and accept themselves and others have
a realistic attitude, are autonomous, independent, creative, democratic and have a problem-
centered rather than self-centered approach to life.Carl Rogers’s Self Theory
The key concept of Rogers’ self theory is the self,an organized, consistent set of beliefs and
perceptions about ourselves, which develops in response to our life experiences. Experiences
that are inconsistent with our self-concept cause us to feel threatened and anxious. If we are
well adjusted, we can adapt by modifying our self-concept. Rogers believed that we are all
born with a need for unconditional positive regard,for acceptance and love from others
independent of how we behave, and positive self-regard from ourselves. When positive
regard is not unconditional, conditions of worth dictate behaviors that cause us to approve
or disapprove of ourselves. The difference between our real self,and what Rogers calls
theideal self,or what we think society wants, is called incongruence.To become fully-
functioning(Rogers term for self-actualization), we must learn to accept ourselves (uncon-
ditional positive self-regard) and unite the real and ideal selves into one again.Behavioral Theory
B. F. Skinner was an influential behavioral psychologist of the last half century. He studied
biology and psychology at Harvard where he obtained a Ph.D. in psychology. As a result
of his observations of and experimental studies with pigeons, rats, people, and a variety
of other organisms, Skinner developed his operant conditioning theory. (See Operant
Conditioning in Chapter 10.) Skinner maintained that behavior is personality. The envi-
ronment shapes who we become, and who we become is determined by the contingencies
of reinforcement we have experienced. If we change someone’s environment, we change
his/her personality. Psychoanalysts criticize Skinner’s theory for not taking into account
emotions, and cognitivists criticize it for ignoring our thinking processes.188 ❯ STEP 4. Review the Knowledge You Need to Score High